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Tag: leeds

Feed Leeds Food Growing Celebration 2025

By Zoe Parker

Published 5th February 2025

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Join Feed Leeds to share, eat and celebrate local food growing.

Feed Leeds AGM Celebration is on Monday, 24 February, from 5.30-8.30pm at the beautiful Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

Why Attend?

Enjoy a shared meal with fellow food enthusiasts (included in your ticket!)

Celebrate and connect with the amazing community of local food growers

Learn about exciting projects and initiatives happening in our area

Grab Your Tickets Today!

Tickets are just £9.38, and they’re selling fast!

Secure your spot by clicking here: [Buy Tickets](https://shorturl.at/BtJep) or simply scan the QR code in the image.

Let’s celebrate the people and projects that are local growing #goodfoodstories and make a vital contribution to our communities across Leeds. We can’t wait to see you there!

What’s Cooking in Leeds this Autumn?

By Zoe Parker

Published 14th October 2024

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Temperatures may be falling, but Leeds is cooking up a storm this Autumn. Here’s a taste of what’s on offer.

three pumpkins carved on a leafy grass outside area

Compass Festival 2024 – bringing a signature flavour this Autumn Season

If Leeds was a Sauce, what might it taste like? Find out with Leeds Sauce a week of events from 1-8 November. From locally harvested rhubarb, rose petals and local beer, join the Popeye Collective in collaboration with the people of Leeds. The events will encourage conversations over food as a catalyst for new culture, inspired by plant-based food systems. Take a look at the full programme of Compass Festival 2024 which runs across between Leeds from 1–30 November 2024.

Also part of the festival is Leeds’ Low Carbon China Town. This two-week installation at Kirkgate Market showcases an experimental food farm and data pop-up store, in collaboration with UK-based East and Southeast Asian migrant communities and the architect-artist Ling Tan. Visitors are invited to explore a myriad of sustainable ingredients, cooking techniques and food sources that, in combination, still retain a core essence of Chinese food culture. They’ll be housing locally grown ingredients that will be used in a not-to-be -missed one off Supper Club hosted by Leeds Cookery School at Kirkgate Market on Friday 15 November, 6.30–8.30pm.

Apples on a tree

Apple Feast – a celebration of many flavours!

If cooking is more your passion, why not join Fruit Works Co-operative at LILAC in Bramley for a celebration of the many things you can eat with apples? This free event is inspired by the “The Flavour Thesaurus” books by Niki Segnit which highlights 56 ingredients that pair well with apples! All they ask is that you prepare a dish featuring one of the flavors they list. More info and sign up here.

Let your Inner Child Loose to Play this Autumn!

Festival of Play and Creativity festival brings you a collection of events happening across the city. It is a chance to celebrate Leeds as a place that knows how to Play, happening 25 Oct to 3 Nov 2024.  From spooky crafts and putrefying potions, to Coco Rave‘s and a spooky splash with BoomChikkaBoom at Bramley Baths. Read about all the playful happenings here.

Market Scavenger Hunt Cooking Experience

Embark on a foodie adventure through Europe’s biggest indoor market with Leeds Cookery School! This is an experience like no other. First you will be treated to a food tour around Kirkgate, gathering ingredients from the market stalls, from local bakeries to fresh seafood. Next, you get to bring your spoils back to Leeds Cookery School and take part in a cooking competition – winner gets a bag of goodies! The Market Scavenger Hunt Cooking Experience is running at Leeds Cookery School in Kirkgate Market on October 26th 2024.

pumpkin at night

As the night falls, get wrapped up and experience the city in illuminated splendour. Leeds Light Night returns this year with all sorts of delights to add a glow this Autumn. Our pick is NocturnHog: The Enchanted Wanderer. A seldom seen hedgehog emerges from the shadows, now large and illuminated for all to see. Taking up residence in Leeds City Bus Station, its intricate details are captivating. Light Night Leeds 2024 is happening across the city from Thu 24 Oct 2024 – Fri 25 Oct 2024.

Just a small selection of the delights on offer this Autumn. So wrap up warm and enjoy the flavours of the city.

500 Food Actions for a Slice of Silver 

By Zoe Parker

Published 18th July 2024

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As FoodWise Leeds, we work with people from across the city to deliver the Leeds Food Strategy. In 2019, Leeds was awarded a Bronze Award from Sustainable Food Places (SFP). More about these awards here. Our aim is for Leeds to achieve the Silver Award and eventually the Gold. 

But we can’t do it without you.

The next step in achieving these aims, is to reach our target of 500 Individual Good Food Actions.

Will you help us do that?

By telling us about the good food actions you are taking, we can know the impact we are making collectively as a city. Whether you are reducing food waste, eating healthier food or learning how to grow your own veg, every action matters. 

And we want to know about your actions.

Every Action Counts and gets us one step closer to our goal.

As an example of how simple it is to get started, I thought I’d share my own food story. 

I stumbled upon FoodWise Leeds about a year back during an event at Leftbank Leeds. At the time, I was intrigued and perhaps a little daunted by the idea of growing my own veggies, and so I decided to attend a workshop organized by Feed Leeds. At that point, I had just about been able to keep all my indoor plants alive for a whole year (and I was pretty excited about that!)

 The workshop turned out to be a game-changer for me. I was really inspired by Feed Leeds. It was such a large network of growers across the city and they introduced to us some brilliant ideas: like ‘Little Veg Libraries’ and #SowaRowXtra – simple schemes that I thought had the potential to really help new growers like me get growing. I left that session with two free tomato plants and enough growing ‘know how’ to get me started. And that was just the beginning of my food journey.

Now I grow my own salad veg, and herbs, as well as climbing roses that the bees absolutely adore. This all grows in pots and old tyres in what was an ugly unused area in a communal concrete yard. A real transformation with very little effort – now the space is peaceful, pretty and a nice place to sit and watch nature.

I‘ve taken many more actions since that first tomato plant: like eating more fresh and locally sourced veg, wasting less food by using it up in home-made soups; and switching to locally made compost. I’m now beginning my own bokashi composting system and am considering community composting to turn my food waste into nutrient-rich soil for the local area. I could never have predicted a year ago where one free workshop would lead.

You can help us reach our target of 500 by telling us about the actions you are taking and encouraging others to take action. We’d also love for any organisations or food businesses to join us in taking action too! For more examples of what we’re looking for, take a look at our Take Action pages for individuals, organisations and food businesses.

Together we can create a healthy, sustainable and fairer food system for everyone in Leeds.

New Chair of the FoodWise Advisory Group

By Zoe Parker

Published 4th July 2024

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We are absolutely delighted to introduce our new Advisory Group Chair, Juli Thompson. With her extensive background as a seasoned Chief Executive Officer at Inn Churches in Bradford and lead for the Food Savers Network, she is poised to bring a wealth of knowledge and a unique outlook to propel us towards success.

“I am thrilled and honoured to step into the role of chair for FoodWise Leeds. Our city has made remarkable strides in creating a more sustainable and equitable food system, as evidenced by our bronze award from Sustainable Food Places in 2019. However, I believe we have only scratched the surface of our potential.

As chair, I am excited to build on our strong foundation and lead our diverse coalition of partners towards our silver and even gold award goals. I’m particularly passionate about advancing our six focus areas outlined in the Leeds Food Action Plan. From improving food governance to promoting planet-friendly food choices, each aspect of our mission is crucial in transforming Leeds into a model food city.

This is a wonderful opportunity to bring together people from all walks of life – from local businesses and government officials to community organisations and individual citizens – in our shared vision of a healthy, sustainable, and fair food system for everyone in Leeds. Together, we can cultivate a thriving food culture that nourishes our community, supports our local economy, and protects our environment.

I look forward to championing FoodWise Leeds’ initiatives, inspiring more individuals and organizations to become FoodWise, and showcasing our city’s innovative approach to food sustainability on a national and global stage. Let’s make Leeds a shining example of what a truly food-wise city can achieve!” I like our chances.

Juli chairing our Advisory Group meeting at Rethink Leeds

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